Storm leaves 11,000 customers without power three days later

Electricity has been restored to about 266,000 customers, or 96 percent of those affected by last weekend’s storm, but around 11,000 customers remain without power, LSM reported. By 6 a.m. on Wednesday, 1,256 faults in the distribution network had been repaired.

Latvian distribution system operator Sadales tīkls said restoration work was continuing at an intensified pace. Crews worked after dark wherever possible, while drones were being used to identify damage to power lines more quickly.

The largest outages remained in the Aizkraukle, Preiļi, Jēkabpils and Rēzekne municipalities. Further interruptions may occur after power is restored if broken trees or branches fall onto power lines and cause new faults.

More than 200 Sadales tīkls crews were expected to work on repairs on Wednesday, using all available company resources. Seven crews from Estonia’s distribution system operator Elektrilevi had also been brought in to help.

Sadales tīkls was working closely with telecommunications operators to restore mobile communications. Inspections and repairs were continuing across Latvia, where large trees had fallen onto wires, cables had been torn down and power-line supports had been broken.

The storm hit Latvia during the night of August 23 and was the strongest summer storm in the country since at least 1966, according to the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre. One person died when a building under construction collapsed in Jelgava, while several others were injured by falling trees and branches. Two firefighter rescuers were also injured during rescue work.

On Sunday morning, about 277,000 households had experienced power disruptions. The outages affected both the distribution network and the transmission network operated by Augstsprieguma tīkls. Traffic lights, shops and petrol stations were also affected in many places, and mobile communications were disrupted.